Inspiring Women of London

London is more than where the Queen lives. We look at other inspiring women of London – women from all walks of life making a big difference in the world.

All over the world women are standing up for what they believe in, building amazing communities, organisations, and businesses. From inspiring young girls to learn something new, to helping thousands of women, here are some inspiring women of London.

Catherine Spencer – Founder of Inspiring Women

Catherine Spencer is the former England rugby captain and founder of Inspiring Women. She wanted to put together a group of speakers and coaches from sport and business who she believed could communicate their stories and lessons to organisations who could benefit greatly from those stories.

Adwoa Aboah created Gurls Talk as a platform for women to share their stories in a safe space. To create a community for all women from all different backgrounds. Their website is a mixture of submissions from various women covering a wide variety of aspects. They also have an open call for pieces, if you feel like adding something yourself.

VéloCityGirl is all about cycling and the stuff that happens in between. Jools’ aim is to redefine what the stereotype of ‘cycling’ is and use her voice to encourage other women to do the same. The site contains a mixture of reviews, mostly things with a cycling focus (obvy) and adventures. What sticks out most, is Jools’ passion and enthusiasm.

Nefarious is a London based girls skate crew. More and more girls are getting into skating, and the platform is designed to help support and develop the sport. Traditonally a male-dominated space, women have often been sidelined in the world of skating, but Viviana and her crew are helping to change perceptions and shine a light on those on the fringes.

Katie Piper – Speaker & Founder of the Katie Piper Foundation

After surviving a horrific acid attack, Katie founded the Katie Piper Foundation to help other survivors with recovery, rehab and creating a community of support. Katie has also appeared on many television shows, documentaries, is an author and winner of the publicly voted ‘Most Inspirational’ prize at the Inspiration Awards for Women in 2010.

Leyla Hussein a trained Psychotherapist and a multi-award winning campaigner on FGM and gender rights. She co-founded Daughters Of Eve and the Dahlia Project which is a therapy service for survivors of FGM. She successfully lobbied at a political level and her e-petition ‘Stop FGM in the UK Now’ gathered over 100,000 signatures, triggering a much needed debate in Parliament on FGM in the UK.

Desiree Burch – Actress, Comedian, Writer & Founding Member of the New York Neo-Futurists

A New York native that has since moved to London, Desiree has appeared on numerous television shows and podcasts such as the Guilty Feminist. As a writer, she has performed in various one woman shows including Tar Baby which won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe and was shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression award.

Amika founded Free Period after learning girls were missing school because they were unable to afford sanitary products – “49% of girls have missed a full day of school because of their period”. She started a petition to call on the government to provide free menstrual products to girls from low-income families. From there, peaceful protests were organised, calling on prime minister Theresa May to provide free menstruation products for all girls. Check out Amika’s TEDx Talk about period poverty here.

Michelle Elman is a body confidence coach and an award-winning body positive activist. She is most known for her campaign Scarred Not Scared. Michelle has appeared on Sky News, Channel 5 News, and the BBC sharing her expert opinion on body confidence. As well as on radio shows worldwide from Hong Kong to Los Angeles to Ireland. Her TEDx talk “Have You Hated Your Body Enough Today?” has been viewed over 17,000 times and her book “Am I Ugly?” will be published this July.

Hannah has been making Youtube videos since 2011. In 2017, she published her first book ‘Doing It’. A young adult non-fiction book all about sex and relationships. Her sex positive work has been recognised by MTV, Durex & Bodyform. She recently underwent a massive surgery due to chronic illness. Instead of shying away, she was very open about it and posted about it on her Instagram and YouTube channels.

These are just some of the inspiring women of London. Who would you add to the list? Is there a local hero in your neighbourhood, or a women you aspire to be like? Tell us in the comments below. Want to meet some more inspiring women of London? Download the GirlCrew app and join the London group. We’ve also scoped out some amazing women in Austin and Los Angeles.